1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shaft melting furnace for melting metals and, particularly, for melting non-ferrous metals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Shaft furnaces are known (U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,060) in which a substantially vertically arranged charging shaft leads directly into a tub or trough-shaped interior receiving the molten bath. A burner faces the charging shaft, the burner heat being passed in such a way through the furnace interior that it is in particular effective at the lower end of the charging shaft and melts the metal located there, so that it flows into the molten bath located in the interior.
In this known shaft furnace it may occur that during charging or even during the melting process, the solid or partly melted melting stock drops into the molten bath before it has completely melted, so that possibly relatively solid components may collect in the molten bath. Impurities can enter the molten bath together with the solid components which would burn in the case of a complete melting process. In addition, in the known shaft furnaces, it can occur that melting stock sticks in the charging shaft, so that the lower region of the latter is melted free and then the burner energy is no longer sufficient to melt loose the melting stock which has stuck above it. It is then necessary to use manually operated tools to advance the melting stock. Thus, these known furnaces cannot be used in an automatic melting process.